The Best Night Ever

So it's getting near the end here. I've got about two weeks left. Tomorrow we leave for Brazil, where I'll be presenting a poster on my research, and when I get back next wednesday, I'll have about a week until I leave.

So we're in a rather celebratory mood. Last week, the guys at the pizza shop invited me to asado (Argentine BBQ, but much, much better than US BBQ). At the same time, the girls invited me out to dinner at a buffet near the university. What to do?

Both, of course! Dinner with the girls was at 8 PM and asado at the pizza guys place was at 11 PM, so two dinners for me. I prepared by not eating all day, I just had 6 cups of coffee over the course of the day. Despite this, I felt okay, and it made my dinners even better.

First, at Siga la vaca with the girls, I had some good food and plenty of wine. The buffet included a bottle of wine per person! Needless to say, we didn't make it that far, but five of us (there were six, but Jen declined wine) polished off four bottles of wine. Not a record (certainly Dad and I have done a lot more ourselves), but respectable. We also had a ton of great meat as well as an all you can eat salad bar.

That was great, and I showed up to asado at Te Pizza El Gallo at 11:30 in a slightly inebriated state. The guys at the pizza shop were quite happy to see me, and they quickly closed the shop. They used some of the grills they normally cook pasta on to cook asado, and it was incredible. Excellent food, really. They also provided me with an entire litre of beer and a really unique desert, which was a nearly ice-like vanilla icecream with strawberrys and apricot sauce. It sounds a little odd, but it was really delicious, and I don't even like desert. That said, my desert (despite TWO dinnners!) disappeared with no delay.

On top of that, there was great conversation in a mixture of broken english, spanish, and french. Actually, the french was the only real complete sentences I was able to use and get my point across, but I digress. Anyway, it was incredible fun, and I have to say, this night stands not just as an excellent night in itself, but as a testament to the value of friends, regardless of language barriers. Despite minimal 'normal' communication, my friends (and it was just the five employees of the pizza place and me) and I shared a really great night, with all the food, drink and conversation one would expect of an incredible night with friends, despite language difficulties! If that's not a life experience, well, I don't know what is.

Anyway, I return to the States in about two weeks, so wish me luck in my last few weeks here and in Brazil, this adventure is almost over, but the stories will certainly last a lifetime!

James

The Pizza Guys; Mom makes a friend

So I eat at this pizza place down the street almost every day, mostly because the guys who run the place are really cool. At last, I have a photo of them:


Earlier in the day we went and saw the giant flower sculpture in Buenos Aires, where Mom made a friend as seen in this picture.

He came up on his bike and stopped at the edge of the frame until I took a picture, then pedalled over to this spot when I went to take a second picture. As soon as I was done, he rode his bike off.

JC